Discussion
This isn't an admission to be included in the Bad Parking thread, but I need some advice on challenging a PCN I got last night as I see it as a total "Job's-Worth"mentality, with little common sense applied.
I would like to challenge it but would like to have some advice with what justifications I should use in my challenge to the PCN.
Went to the cinema last night and when I parked up I chose a bay at the end of a row, where there was yellow hatching to the side, which looked partly removed (I was parked in the space taken in the first picture by the black car) and decided that if anyone was to park next to me I would put my wheel over the line into the hatched box to ensure I was able to get back into it as well as reduce any chance of doors hitting my car. I didn't park in the bay where the silver car is today as its markings were confusing, as it looks like a bay, but hatched out with yellow lines. It was 6.27 when I got my pay and display ticket and the car park was 15% full and when I came back it hadn't filled up much at all. The only reason this area is hatched seems to be because there is a telecoms box in the corner, and has no right of way, for cars. I drive an Audi Q7 which is a big car and around 30cm wider than the cars in the pictures (2m wide - 2.2m with mirrors out) and, as I have had my car damaged before from people opening their doors onto it, I always try to choose a bay at the end of a row, where I can try to maximise the bay's area.
There was no harm done to anyone else trying to park in the car park and I have parked with consideration for my own property and the property of others.
Many thanks in advance.
I would like to challenge it but would like to have some advice with what justifications I should use in my challenge to the PCN.
Went to the cinema last night and when I parked up I chose a bay at the end of a row, where there was yellow hatching to the side, which looked partly removed (I was parked in the space taken in the first picture by the black car) and decided that if anyone was to park next to me I would put my wheel over the line into the hatched box to ensure I was able to get back into it as well as reduce any chance of doors hitting my car. I didn't park in the bay where the silver car is today as its markings were confusing, as it looks like a bay, but hatched out with yellow lines. It was 6.27 when I got my pay and display ticket and the car park was 15% full and when I came back it hadn't filled up much at all. The only reason this area is hatched seems to be because there is a telecoms box in the corner, and has no right of way, for cars. I drive an Audi Q7 which is a big car and around 30cm wider than the cars in the pictures (2m wide - 2.2m with mirrors out) and, as I have had my car damaged before from people opening their doors onto it, I always try to choose a bay at the end of a row, where I can try to maximise the bay's area.
There was no harm done to anyone else trying to park in the car park and I have parked with consideration for my own property and the property of others.
Many thanks in advance.
paintman said:
Private parking company or council?
May well be jobsworthy but you did park across two bays/not wholly in one bay & if that's what the ticket was issued for then you could have difficulty getting it set aside.
Council ticket. I would challenge the correct use of the yellow hatching, if they are telling me I was parking across another bay, as I believe the combined white box and partial yellow hatching makes it very unclear. If they tell me I am parked in a yellow hatched area, then I would challenge whether I was obstructing anything at all.May well be jobsworthy but you did park across two bays/not wholly in one bay & if that's what the ticket was issued for then you could have difficulty getting it set aside.
Funk said:
Your post doesn't really make sense.
If I've understood what you're saying you parked in the bay where the black car is with your wheels over the edge of the bay into the area where the silver car is? If so, you've been given the ticket for not parking 'fully within the marked bay' I'd suspect.
If you were parked not fully inside the bay then a jobsworth's got you bang to rights from that perspective. The only consideration may be whether the bay needs to conform to a certain size and if so, is it too narrow? Is it a council-owned car park or privately-owned?
Sorry for the confusion, but you deciphered it correctly.If I've understood what you're saying you parked in the bay where the black car is with your wheels over the edge of the bay into the area where the silver car is? If so, you've been given the ticket for not parking 'fully within the marked bay' I'd suspect.
If you were parked not fully inside the bay then a jobsworth's got you bang to rights from that perspective. The only consideration may be whether the bay needs to conform to a certain size and if so, is it too narrow? Is it a council-owned car park or privately-owned?
turbobloke said:
For the sake of a few minutes' effort, the suggestion from Mandat could be worth pursuing. It may come to nothing.
Here is my appeal wording....I am trying to get them to see some reason to my parking, so just seeing if there some people with common sense, rather than a rule book.The width of the parking bays is always an issue for my vehicle, and it has been damaged a couple of times from people parking too close, as well as one occasion in the same car park, where I was unable to get into the driver's side as a car had parked so close. I chose this space at the end of a row to be conscious of other people parking and to protect my car. As shown in the photos, the car is over the bay's line, but not obstructing any other bay, or access to the car park (the yellow hatching area only seems to protect a telecoms switching box). With my vehicle being almost 2.2m wide and the doors almost 30cm thick, the bays in this car park are generally too restrictive to allow for passengers to get out of my car from both sides when other cars are parked either side, hence choosing this space and showing consideration for other patrons of the car park.
I would like to add that I understand the need to maximise the amount of spaces in car parks, but the bays in many of Epsom's car parks are not suitable for cars as large as mine, without inconveniencing other drivers, or risking damage to mine and/or other's cars.
I recognise that I have contravened the council's rules, however I hope that you understand that I would never do something like this with any malicious intent, or just to flout the rules with little, or no regard of others. I therefore ask for your leniency and request that you waive the PCN please.
I have attached photos from this morning with smaller cars in, showing the hatched area from a better angle to show that I was not parking in an area that would obstruct anyone's access. Note - the silver car is parked in an area that has a parking bay outline, but yellow hatching, therefore it is unclear whether you can park there or not, and this is what I assumed was effectively "dead space" in the car park.
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